The present invention pertains to the art of fishing reels and more particularly to a large arbor anti-reverse fly fishing reel having a drag which is adjustable on the side of the reel opposite the handle.
Fly fishing is a sport in which an angler uses a fishing rod, reel and line to present a fly to a fish in hopes of catching the fish. In fly fishing, the flies, or artificial lures, are frequently very light and feathery. The angler therefore casts the line which carries the fly to the desired location. The quantity of line is sometimes taken off the reel by the angler and paid out during casting to achieve the desired result.
The elements recited above, a fly fishing rod, a fly fishing reel, a fly fishing line, and a fly all come in a large variety of types from various organizations. Lighter equipment is often used in fresh water environments when an angler is pursuing smaller varieties of fish. Larger, more robust equipment is often used when one is pursuing large saltwater fish. Different types of rods and reels are also available as anglers have different tastes and desire different types of equipment even when it pursuing the same quarry.
The present invention is an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel and particularly a fly fishing reel having attributes useful in pursuing large saltwater species.
Large arbor fly fishing reels have found favor in the last several years particularly in the saltwater environment. Large arbor reels store line in larger coils resulting in a line more likely to cast and lay down straight rather than in a helical form due to the memory of being coiled on a tight small arbor reel. One successful large arbor reel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,508 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. That large arbor reel provides a reel with easily replaceable spools having a large area drag adjustable with a drag knob. The handle for turning the spool is mounted directly on the spool and the drag knob is on the side of the reel opposite the spool knob. U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,508 to Lepage entitled xe2x80x9cLarge Arbor Fly Fishing Reelxe2x80x9d is incorporated herein by reference.
Another successful saltwater fly fishing reel is offered by The Orvis Company of Manchester, Vt. under the trademark DXR. That reel is an anti-reverse reel. The handle used to turn the spool on a DXR brand reel is not attached directly to the spool. Rather, it acts through an anti-reverse mechanism. The handle will only rotate in the xe2x80x9cline inxe2x80x9d direction. When line is being paid out as when a fish is running away from the angler at high speed, the handle does not rotate. With an anti-reverse reel, the angler will not be struck by a rotating spool handle. With an anti-reverse reel, the angler can grasp the spool handle and start to reel in or apply pressure to the line even when the line is still paying out at high speed. In the DXR anti-reverse reel, the drag adjustment knob is on the same side of the reel as the spool handle.
The drag feature of both the reel described in the ""508 patent and the DXR anti-reverse reel are important to the operation of the reel. The drag on both reels is adjustable. One can set the drag to a light setting in which the friction of the drag prevents overrun and tangling. Overrun can occur when the drag on a reel is set too lightly. If one is pulling line off the reel with no drag, the reel will keep tuning after one stops pulling line. Several of the coils of line on the reel may loosen-up and possibly overlap one another becoming tangled. Then, when it is attempted to remove more line, either by the fisherman pulling with his hand or by the fish trying to run, the tangled coil prevents line pay-out. Line cannot be paid out until tangled coils are untangled and cleared. This can result in a lost fish. Therefore, setting the drag properly is important.
The drag is also useful when fighting a larger fish. The drag setting can be increased thereby increasing the friction between the rotating spool and the reel frame. This requires more effort by the fish to swim away from the angler. However, if the drag setting is too high, too much force is applied to the line and the fish may break the line and escape. If the drag setting is too low, the fish is not sufficiently impeded and may run with the entire length of the line and backing, also, possibly resulting in lost fish.
In accordance with the present invention, an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel is provided having a spool retrieve handle not mounted directly on the spool and a drag adjustment on the side of the reel opposite the spool retrieve handle.
Still further in accordance with the invention, an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel is provided having two large engaging annular friction surfaces, one mounted directly on the reel spool and the other mounted on a friction plate adapted to rotate in a selected direction only.
Still further in accordance with the present invention, an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel is provided having a drag adjustment knob on the side of the reel opposite the spool handle, said drag adjustment knob adjusting the force urging the two drag annular surfaces into frictional engagement.
Still further in accordance with the present invention, a drag offset is provided adjacent set drag adjustment knob, set drag offset adapted to switch between an increased drag position and a decreased drag position.
Yet further in accordance with the invention, the drag offset is a disk position between the reel frame and the drag adjustment knob which has a first surface bearing against the drag offset knob and a second surface bearing against the reel frame which occupies a first axial distance in a low drag setting and a second greater axial distance in a high drag setting.
Still further in accordance with the invention, the drag offset disk is provided with low drag setting detentes and high drag setting detentes holding the drag offset disk in one of these two positions.
Yet further in accordance with the invention, the drag offset disk is provided with raceways engaging protuberances on the reel frame said raceways connecting the low drag detente position and the high drag detente position.
Yet further in accordance with the invention, the protuberances on the wheel frame are balls adapted to slidably engage the raceways on the drag offset disk and semi-fixably engage the detente recesses on the drag offset disk.
Yet further in accordance with the invention, the drag offset disk is provided with a gripping surface allowing an angler to easily move the drag offset disk from the low drag position to the high drag position.
Still further in accordance with the present invention, the drag offset disk gripping surface is either a knurled outer surface, a protrusion, or a number of protrusions spaced around the disk.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel which is robust in design, suitable for use in challenging environments such as saltwater flats, and has a drag system which is easily adjustable by the angler.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an anti-reverse fly fishing reel in which the drag adjustment knob is on the side of the reel opposite from the spool rotating handle.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a fly fishing reel having an adjustable drag which also has a second separate drag offset adjustment or switch.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a fly fishing reel in which an adjustable drag is provided with a drag offset adjustment having detentes retaining the drag offset in a light drag offset position or a heavy drag offset position.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an anti-reverse large arbor fly fishing reel having an improved drag and improved reel control and operation.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawings.